Meet our alumni Creative Residents.

2017 Alumni Residents

Jessica Bellamy

A designer from Louisville, Kentucky, Jessica uses data to tell personalized visual stories. With a goal of driving social change, she partners with nonprofits and community groups to design compelling materials that break down complex information. She spent her residency working on new approaches to her creative process and design execution, and she encouraged the creative community to support and promote working with nonprofits.

A graphic designer from Erie, Pennsylvania with passions for street art, skateboard-smithing, and design, Chelsea spent her residency developing a line of longboards showcasing her artwork. She explored subjects including the public perception of female strength, individuality, sustainability, product quality, and the functional and accessible application of art, and she shared the stages of her process all the way through the production of her wood decks.

A graphic designer and lettering artist from Munich, Germany, Rosa used her residency to create a project called Walk of Happiness. She lettered messages of positivity on retail windows to create a city-wide treasure hunt. Her messages caught consumers’ attention and made them stop, smile, and think while discovering new aspects and areas of their city. She challenged herself to improve her own skills while thinking and driving impact on a bigger scale.

A photographer based in Brooklyn, New York, Aundre spent his residency working on projects that explored the daily lives, challenges, and perspectives of a diverse range of people throughout the U.S. His main project, Stories from Here, was a snapshot of America through the eyes of its residents. He captured photographs, made video content for the first time, and shared his process — all with the goal of making longer-form storytelling about unheard voices his primary work.

An interaction designer based in Brooklyn, New York, Natalie is passionate about the intersections of design and philosophy. As a resident, she created digital solutions in the spaces of professional networking, charitable giving (with DonorsChoose.org), public resource access, and educational news (with Newsela.com). She also created a notebook detailing her creative process to help make UX design more accessible to the creative community. She plans to work in interaction design for civic and urban planning in the future.

A German photographer based in Berlin, Julia is passionate about nature, traveling, and unique types of cultural storytelling. She spent her residency exploring and documenting places and cultures in Europe that are tied to folk tales, and she tried out different photography styles, combined photos and videos into compelling stories, and shared what she learned with the community. Her goal was to inspire people to stay curious and open-minded when they experience unknown places and cultures.

2016 Alumni Residents

Sara Dietschy

Sara came to the residency with the goal of amplifying her work across the spectrum of social media and pursuing a bigger medium for her YouTube-based series, Creative SpacesTV. She spoke at events like Adobe MAX and SXSW, and took on collaborations and partnerships that led her to become a Sony Alpha Collective member, the Director of Photography for the documentary Internet Kids, and a nominee for Vlogger of the Year at the 2017 Shorty Awards.

Christine spent her residency designing a line of paper products that encouraged people to document their lives in creative and meaningful ways. She launched her first product, the Everyday Explorers Travel Journal kit, and used it to test ideas and share her vision. She says she learned how to balance new ideas with the financial and practical limitations of building and growing a creative business, and made plans to expand her product line and incorporate her new skills into her graphic design practice.

Syd used her residency to build a creative community around her work where others could learn, share, and work alongside her. She explored the digital sticker store trend, and created the now-Facebook-infamous Trash Doves. She also took the time to figure out what kind of work she wanted to be making, and says she came away equipped to achieve her goals, maintain a productive career doing what she loves, and contribute positivity and knowledge to the online creative community.

Craig spent his residency creating a large series of light installations around the world called Light Capsules. He worked on improving his technique and optimizing his process for projection mapping while simultaneously going deeper into the details of sign painting and typography. He says the residency challenged him to get out of his comfort zone, tackle bigger projects, and explore new concepts — and he gained confidence in himself and his work.

2015 Alumni Residents

Kelli Anderson

Kelli spent her residency exploring the question, “What can paper do?” She tinkered with the material’s capacity to amplify sound, tell time, and work as a camera. She even took a few everyday tech objects and stripped them down to the bare minimum, rebuilding them in paper pop-up book form. The text of the book explains how simple structures can tap into the physical world’s invisible forces to make surprisingly sophisticated things happen.

Becky used her residency to build and launch her online store, Chipper Things, a lifestyle and paper brand that celebrates play and delights in the ordinary. She began the year with her #100DaysOfGettingStarted project, in which she illustrated something new every day for three months. Much of that art can be found in Chipper Things and in dozens of stores across the U.S. and Canada. She also finished her second book, The Roommate Book, an illustrated guide to roommate life that was published by Andrews McMeel.